Accession of George the Third

ON a bright morning late in October, 1760, the air cool and bracing, young Prince George, grandson of the reigning sovereign of England, was riding near Kew palace with his tutor and favorite companion, the Earl of Bute, when a messenger came in haste with the startling news that the king was dead. That "temperate, methodical old man," rose that morning at six o'clock, as usual, and after drinking a cup of chocolate went into a small closet. His German valet, who always kept near his person, presently heard a noise in the closet as of one falling, and going into the apartment found his master lying upon the floor dead. The ventricle of his heart had bursted, causing instantaneous death. "Full of years and glory," wrote Horace Walpole, "he died without a pang, and without a reverse. He left his family firmly established on a long-disputed throne, and was taken away in the moment that approaching extinction of sight and hearing made loss of life the only blessing that remained desirable."

Prince George remained at Kew during the day and night after the king's death. He was his grandfather's successor to the throne, and was so proclaimed. William Pitt, then at the head of the ministry, immediately repaired to Kew to condole and consult with the new monarch. On the following day the king went to St. James' palace, where Pitt again waited upon him and presented a sketch of an address to be made by the monarch at a meeting of the Privy Council. The minister was politely informed that a speech was already prepared, and that every preliminary was arranged. Pitt perceived, what many had suspected, that the Earl of Bute, who was the special favorite of the young king's mother, was to be a leading spirit in the administration. The pride of the great commoner was touched, and he left the royal presence with clouded brows. A year later he retired from public life.

The young king, who was to occupy the British throne for fifty years--the period in English history the most interesting to Americans--was a son of the dead Frederick Prince of Wales. His mother was the beautiful Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. He was born in London in 1738, and was regarded with special favor by the people of England, because he was a native prince. His tutor and confidential adviser, the Earl of Bute, was a gay Scottish nobleman of handsome person, pleasing address, possessed of moderate mental endowments, and was narrow in his political views. The Princess Augusta seemed fond of him, and scandalous things were suggested concerning their intimacy. Such was the man--a sort of needy adventurer at the English court, at first--without valid claims to the character of a statesman, whom the young monarch unfortunately chose for his counsellor and guide, instead of the wise and sagacious Pitt, who had done so much to glorify England during the reign just closed. Like Rehoboam, George "for-sook the counsel which the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men that were brought up with him, that stood before him."

This was a mistake that led to lasting disasters to the realm. The unwise policy advised by Bute, concerning the English-American colonies, engendered much of the ill-feeling toward the mother country that led to a revolutionary war and the dismemberment of the British empire. Discontents rapidly appeared in England, when it was seen that the great Pitt was discarded, and that the young king was to be ruled by his unpopular mother and the Favorite. Murmurs of discontent soon became audible; and some-body had the boldness to fasten upon the front of the Royal Exchange in London, this placard in large letters: "No petticoat government--no Scotch minister--no Lord George Sackville!"

Bute's idea concerning the American colonies was that they should be brought into absolute subjection to the British Parliament, by force if necessary, and to do this, he advised the employment of measures for reforming the colonial charters. Acting upon the advice of Bute, the king sent secret agents over the sea to travel in the colonies; make the acquaintance of leading men; collect information about the character and temper of the people, and bring together facts and conclusions that would enable ministers to judge what regulations and alterations might be safely made. The agents came; they made superficial observations, and returned to England with erroneous conclusions which led to trouble. They entirely mistook the character and temper of the Americans, and their reports were fallacious. The colonists saw through their thin disguise as travelers for their own pleasure, and became more watchful than ever. They knew that the Board of Trade had proposed to annual the colonial charters, and to make the people submit to royal government and taxation; and they looked with distrust upon all parliamentary legislation bearing upon the colonies.